Ernesto Gastaldi (born 10 September 1934) is an Italianscreenwriter. Film historian and criticTim Lucas described Gastaldi as the first Italian screenwriter to specialize in horror and thriller films.[1] Gastaldi worked within several popular genres includingpepla,Western andspy films.[1]
Ernesto Gastaldi was born on 10 September 1934 inGraglia in the province ofProvince of Biella,Piedmont.[2] Gastaldi left his job as a clerk at the Sella bank in Biella to move to Rome where he was admitted intoCentro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.[2] After graduating, Gastaldi had trouble finding work.[3] In 1957, Gastaldi wrote his first science fiction novel which the publishers requested an English-language name for the cover.[4][5] Gastaldi was sharing an apartment at the time with an Anglo-Italian man named Julian Birri, whom he adapted his name to for his alias, Julian Berry.[5] Gastaldi would write more crime and science fiction novels during this period such asSangue intasca (1957) as James Duffy,Brivido sulla schiena (1957) as Freddy Foster andTempo zero (1960) as Berry.[6]
Gastaldi's debut as a screenwriter and assistant director was with the filmThe Vampire and the Ballerina byRenato Polselli.[7] Gastaldi reflected on writing the film by stating that his working hours were from 8 in the morning until midnight, stating that "if someone had told me I was making a Gothic film I would have laughed."[7] Other works in gothic horror included Gastaldi writing forWerewolf in a Girls' Dormitory,The Horrible Dr. Hichcock andThe Whip and the Body.[8] Following his gothic works, was his work ingiallo film, where Gastaldi directed films such asLibido, which was released in 1965.[9][10]
Curti, Roberto (2016a).Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press.ISBN978-1-936168-60-6.
